1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for generating an external input table, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for generating an external input table containing information on external inputs of an Audio-Visual (AV) device and information on external devices respectively assigned to the external inputs.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a related art AV system.
Referring to FIG. 1, an AV receiver 101 receiving an audio signal from the outside and reproducing the received audio signal is connected to a television (TV) 102, a set-top box (STB) 103, and a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) player 104 through first, second, and third external inputs, respectively.
The ‘external input’ is an input terminal for receiving an AV signal from the outside through a connection cable, such as coaxial cable, component cable, composite cable, Sony/Philips Digital Interface (S/PDIF) cable, or High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable, and for transmitting the AV signal.
In addition, in the related art AV system, AV devices may form an additional network for control between them as well as acting as an input terminal for receiving an AV signal.
If a cable for connecting to an external input is an HDMI cable, besides the cable for transmitting an AV signal, an additional network for HDMI-Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) is connected between the AV devices as illustrated in FIG. 1. That is, by using HDMI-CEC, a user can control power of the AV receiver 101 through the TV 102 or control the AV receiver 101 to reproduce an audio signal of the TV 102. In more detail, the user can control the AV receiver 101 to reproduce the audio signal of the TV 102 by controlling the AV receiver 101 by means of a user interface (UI) provided on a screen of the TV 102 which the user is viewing. In this case, while a control signal is transmitted and received via the HDMI-CEC network, the AV signal is transmitted from the TV 102 to the AV receiver 101 through the first external input.
However, in FIG. 1, the only device that the TV 102 can control is the AV receiver 101, and the user cannot control the STB 103 or the DVD player 104 using the TV 102. Thus, if the user desires to hear sounds of the DVD player 104 using the AV receiver 101 while viewing moving pictures reproduced by the DVD player 104 using the TV 102, the user must additionally set the DVD player 104 to reproduce an AV signal received through the third external input.
In addition, even when the audio signal of the TV 102 is reproduced through the AV receiver 101, the user can control the AV receiver 101 to reproduce the audio signal of the TV 102, only if the TV 102 is connected to a specific external input of the AV receiver 101 or the user previously knows which external input of the AV receiver 101 is connected to the TV 102.
Thus, a method and apparatus for reproducing an AV signal of an external device through the AV receiver 101 without the user having to perform complex operations is required.